Subject:When did the public start becoming 'obsessed' with digital technology?

Written By:belmont22on01/01/13 at 8:16 pm

When did you notice digitality went from being utilitarian, nerdy and expensive to being affordable, hip and often vain?

I definitely think the late 1990s were pretty tech crazed, though compared to today not at all really. I mean after all, even in the year 2000 a computer still often cost a thousand dollars and while PDAs such as the Palm Pilot were around, they definitely weren't something pretty much everyone used or owned.

I'd say it was probably around 2002 that it became crazed like it is now. I think that's when teenagers started to text each other a lot and it's also when broadband Internet really started to become common. During the dial-up days, the appeal of the Internet, while vast, was still somewhat limited.

Subject:Re: When did the public start becoming 'obsessed' with digital technology?

Written By:MaxwellSmarton01/01/13 at 8:32 pm

Oh, I think it started with the first ten-dollar digital watch in 1978. 8)

Subject:Re: When did the public start becoming 'obsessed' with digital technology?

Written By:Inlandsvägen1986on01/02/13 at 4:14 am

It was more or less a long process.

I think you can talk about an 'obsession' once it was necessary for people to be online everywhere or to have their computer always available. This is a thing I notice only since the late 00s when the iPhone had been introduced.

Subject:Re: When did the public start becoming 'obsessed' with digital technology?

Written By:Howardon01/02/13 at 7:05 am

I think it started around the early 1990's.

Subject:Re: When did the public start becoming 'obsessed' with digital technology?

Written By:Inlandsvägen1986on01/02/13 at 7:26 am

I think it started around the early 1990's.

Yeah, especially with CD players getting highly popular.

However it still took some time until most everyday stuff became digitalized... that's more a 2000s thing.

Subject:Re: When did the public start becoming 'obsessed' with digital technology?

Written By:belmont22on01/02/13 at 7:00 pm

It was more or less a long process.

I think you can talk about an 'obsession' once it was necessary for people to be online everywhere or to have their computer always available. This is a thing I notice only since the late 00s when the iPhone had been introduced.

Another thing I notice too is even as late as 2005, the Internet was more of a 'guy thing' and people made jokes that there are 'no women on the Internet'. Even nowadays I hear that chestnut once in a while, but it's totally untrue in 2013. Indeed Yahoo Answers and a lot of other websites seem dominated by women.

Women are (stereotyping) more social creatures on the whole and now that the Internet has evolved into a social hub, before it was more like a mix of a library/pirate bay/porn machine, it's become increasingly appealing to women.

Subject:Re: When did the public start becoming 'obsessed' with digital technology?

Written By:Howardon01/02/13 at 7:31 pm

With digital technology so popular these days, we don't have to go out of the house and shop anymore.

Subject:Re: When did the public start becoming 'obsessed' with digital technology?

Written By:Howardon01/02/13 at 7:32 pm

Yeah, especially with CD players getting highly popular.

However it still took some time until most everyday stuff became digitalized... that's more a 2000s thing.